I suppose if I’d thought about these counterfeit £1 coin posts a bit more, I’d have put them in a logical order! Ah well.
Anyway, following on from the other post about crooked quids, I’ll go through a few more examples of counterfeit £1 coins…
Example #5:
This was the first ever counterfeit coin that I noticed when I was given it in change. How did I spot it? Well, frankly because it’s a piss poor copy! It’s perhaps not obvious from the above picture, but the colour of it is truly awful. Take a look at this – it’s the same coin compared to a real pound. You can see how the colour would stand out in a pile of real £1 coins. It’s also easy to see that the fake isn’t as clearly and centrally stamped as it should be.
Oh… shock horror! The reverse image is wrong (yet again). The front has been stamped 1995, which was a Welsh £1 coin year. We should have a Welsh dragon, but a 1994 Scottish rampant lion has been used instead. Clang!
1995 should have an edge inscription of “PLEIDIOL WYF I’M GWLAD“, but on this coin we find “DECUS ET TUTAMEN“. The edge font isn’t even spaced properly, so it just looks odd.
Quite a few mistakes there then! Don’t worry, it can only get better…
Example #6:
The front of this coin is again poor. It’s a shame as the colour is pretty good. The lettering is blobby and you can’t see any of the small holes in the ‘A’, ‘B’ or ‘9’. The border often merges with the surrounding dots.
1997 had three lions on the reverse. Oh dear, oh dear. Here we have the royal coat of arms (which has incidentally been stamped very well – even if it is the wrong picture!). The edge is only about 60% milled and the edge inscription isn’t actually even in a straight line.
Example #7:
Wow, this is strange! A coin where the year, the edge inscription and the reverse picture all match what they should be! Amazing. What gives this away as being fake then?
Take a look at the reverse of the coin. It’s not clearly stamped. You can hardly read the lettering. Is that just wear? Nope.
Take another look, this time at the dotted border around the coin. There’s a big gap between the edge and the dotted border around the top left hand side. Then, on the bottom right the dots merge into the edging. It’s basically not been stamped centrally.
Still not convinced?
It’s difficult getting a good picture of the edge of a coin, I’ve made you take my word for what’s on the edge in previous examples, but here I took the extra effort to show you.
In the picture above, the coin at the top is genuine the other is the counterfeit. The ‘T’s from the start of the word “TUTAMEN” on each coin have been lined up.
The ‘N’ from the end of the word “TUTAMEN” should therefore line up. It doesn’t. You can see the font used in the counterfeit is clearly wrong. In fact, it looks more like a small soldering iron has been used to inscribe it by hand as the lettering is very uneven. The depth of the inscription varies, the ‘D’ of “DECUS” is practically non-existant, whereas the ‘A’ of “TUTAMEN” is quite deep.
Phew. I only have one other fake… currently!
Example #8:
Here’s another that could easily pass for real. Both front and back are quite clearly stamped, however if you look closely, the front isn’t quite central. The reverse is, however you’ll notice that some of the border dots are missing. Strange.
The year on the front is 2001. We should be seeing a repeat of the 1996 design – a Celtic cross on the reverse. We’ve got… another coat of arms instead. A clear counterfeit then.
The edge inscription on this is what gives the coin away though. Mainly because it’s so faint! I’ve lined up the ‘D’ of “DECUS” on both coins this time…
Again, the top coins is real, below that is the counterfeit. Only 60% of the edge is milled and most of the letters are practically invisible!
Well that’s enough of that. I might do another post on this sometime in the future just to tie things together a bit more, but we’ll see.
In the meantime, check the change in your pocket… you might be surprised!
[…] I guess when it comes to counterfeit £1 coins, I’m a bit of a geek. I’ve blogged a couple of times before about fake coins, but it’s been a while, so I thought I’d post another small bunch. […]
do all pound coins have writting on edge lots about with arrows on edge
Hi Terry,
Coins from 1983-2003 should all have an inscription around the edge (the beginning and end of the inscription will be separated by a “cross crosslet”). Coins from 2004-2007 have a couple of curvy lines around the edge.
I’ve not seen one with arrows on? Any chance of a scan?
one pound coin reads..ellan vannin..with turtle and mobile phone. what on earth is this? tom.
It’s probably this Isle of Man pound by the sounds of it.
Hi to everyone who has an interest in fake coins, my question is how do the forgers get the coins to go a brass like colour, as most low casting alloys are silver in colour, can someone help me to understand how this is done,thanks,Bob …..
[…] Part two and part three. […]
regards to edge inscription, newer coins have one angular line and one curvy line crossing each other around the edge
I only came to this post because I think I have one, I only noticed today that one of my pounds looks slightly more silvery to the others, I think its an example 8 though.
Its a 2003 coin. The tails side shows the coat of arms. On the heads side is normal but the font is really bold. Also the writing on the side aligns to the normal coin but is a completely different font and the letters don’t match each other.
i have just been on google and typed in ‘2004 fake coins’.
unfortunatly, i have just realised that the picture of the fake coin is equivelent to my coin. it has a winding brige on the back and a miserable,drooping queens head on the front. it also has suspicously looking, curving lines on the side that are not in the centre.
My coins by all your tests, are genuine. What I have noticed is that they go silver when you scratch one hard against the other. I guess this is a normal behaviour for genuine coins.
http://www.royalmint.com/Corporate/facts/coins/OnePoundCoin.aspx
Here are the coins’ insignia for each year.
Yesterday I received in change a lovely shiny 2008 pound coin. On the reverse the ornamental royal arms, as on the 1983, 1993 and 2003 coins.
Some mistake, surely?
Hi Patrick, I too have found one or two of these. Officially, the Royal Mint website of designs shows only the ‘Royal Shield’ reverse for 2008, not the Royal Arms UK as used for 1983, 1993, 1998 and 2003 coins.
However, a London coin dealer tells me he believes that both designs are genuine for 2008. I have asked the Royal Mint to clarify, but as yet have had no reply. The ‘Royal Arms’ coins certainly look genuine with crisp design and good striking and clear/even edge lettering but it’s puzzling, assuming they’re genuine, firstly that the Royal Mint doesn’t list this design on their own website and secondly for them to apparantly have altered the practice establised since 1983 of only having one reverse design for each year.
Loftybob,
I am also perplexed by this as I’ve got 2 myself with year date 2008 and the Royal Ornamental Arms on the reverse but have also got the new design Shield with 2008.
Therefore if there are 2 2008 UK designs, then 2009 (following the established sequence) ought to be a Scottish design but Royal Mint are already releasing the Shield design with 2009 year date as well
Any ideas?
The Royal Mint website does show two types of pound coins on their circulation figures for 2008.
Many thanks C – that looks pretty definite then. Interesting to see just 3.9 million for the 2008 Royal Arms version, compared to 29.4 million for the 2008 Royal Shield (figures updated March 09).
If these are final figures for the 2008 coins entering circulation, then that makes the 2008 ‘Royal Arms’ twice as scarce as the 1988 £1 (at 7.1million), which itself doesn’t turn up too often. I think some of the forged pounds (eg 2001 Celtic Cross) will turn out to be more common in circulation than this official 2008 coin!
Hi. Im not sure what to do. I work in a shop in Crouch End, London. Every time my boss goes to get change for the till, from the bank(Natwest he says?) he comes back with bags of coins but all the pound coins are fake. Every single one of them. They are exaxtly the same in every way. The same logos and dates on each coin. I have had a bit of a study in this before so i know what to spot. i also have amazing eye sight! They are definitely from the same batch. Hundreds of them. I have mentioned it to the other staff and they seem to be unintrested and make out they are real. its almost like they know too and something is going on! I dont want to lose my job as i like it, connot afford to lose my job and/or i dont want to get into trouble with them if something dodgy is going on!!! its like they know i know? Either the boss isnt going to the bank and going somewhere else up the road to get them or someone in the bank is making them. But there is so many! all the same. so….any advice? im stuck, i sometimes dont care but i do for some reason. Please help. cheers. look forward to your reply.
Hmmm, that is a bit tricky. If you’re positive that something dodgy is going on, the ‘right’ thing to do would of course be to ring Crimestoppers or something (hey you might even get a reward!).
But yeah, assuming the boss is also the owner, it’s very doubtful that you’d still be working there if you did that. If he’s not and there’s a head office etc, it’s far more likely you’d keep your job.
I totally see your dilemma though. What would I do? Hmmm. Perhaps a bit more concrete proof is required..? Get a friend to see where he’s actually going when he says he off to the bank! (oooh, detective work!)
Best of luck.
Hi,
I went through my wallet and found two or so counterfeit pound coins. The orientation of the coin faces were off by quite an angle and the crosslet of Llantrisant was missing, coupled with poor inscription of the Decus inscription.
Please tell me what to do with these coins. Instructions on how to turn them in at a bank or something.
I don’t people telling me to spend it or lose it at a vending machine.
nobody care except the gorvernment, they can be used, that’s fine. nobody will check whether the coins are good during the playment
i have a £1 coin with a coat of arms on one side & a sailing boat on the other dated 1983,is this a fake or a mistake at the mint ?
Does it have any text on it? Like ‘Bailiwick of Guernsey’ around the edge? Like this one?
In Guernsey we use pound notes, but there are one pound coins dated 1983, 85, 87, 90, 2001, 03, 06 and a rare 1997.
I have a 2007 £1 coin from Gibralter with a neanderthal skull on it with NO edging at all. Looks the part . Very good copy.
You are really lucky to have got that pound coin, I am trying to hunt one down ! They are such gorgeous looking creepy pounds !
Do all one pound coins have a cross on the outer edge where the writing is????????
where abouts is the turtle on the mobile phone isle of man 1 pound coin from 1992??
JUST FOUND 2008 POUND WITH MENAI BRIDGE DESIGN,HAVE YOU SEEN ONE YET
Tony, I’m interested in knowing more about your 2008 Menai bridge pound, could you possibly email me on lofty_bob@hotmail.co.uk if you see this post? Thanks
i have a £1 coin dated 1997 with the lion rampant (scottish) on it and around the edge decus et tutamen. i have looked at the royal mint website and the lion rampant should be dated 1994 , is my pound coin a fake ?
Hi there, I also have a similar coin. Did you find out any more. Are they worth anything to collectors?
I have two seemingly identical 1983 coat of arms pound coins, except that the outer inscription is upsidedown on one when compared to the other. so when put together heads to tails the inscriptions are not the same way up.
did they print some up one way and some the other?
I have 7 other pound coins here, all match the coin whose inscription is the right way up when heads is up, is this right?